Our class will be doing their SAGE writing test on Thursday, February 4th.  To help prepare for this test, we will be doing a lot of practice on www.utahcompose.com.  Each student has an account set up and they began practicing at school.  I wrote their usernames and passwords down for them and begged them not to lose them!  Hopefully they still have them.  I can not stress to you enough how important it is that your child practice this EVERY DAY!  They will be given time in class to work on it, but it will not be enough.  Each student began writing a free choice essay this week just to get a feel for how the program works.  Only two students finished and submitted their essays.  I have now added a new essay assignment for each grade level.  It should show up when they log in to their account.  They should have this essay completed and submitted by Friday.  I would highly recommend exploring the site with your child and looking at the lessons and other resources that are available to help them improve their writing.  The students should also submit their essays and then take the time to go back and try to correct their mistakes to improve their scores.  They will likely need your help and support with this.  I understand that it is hard to find the time to do this every night.  With Utah Compose, IXL, spelling city, and the SAGE Formative practice that all need to be done on the computer, there just isn’t time to do all of these things in class.  If your family has limited access to a computer, or doesn’t have internet access, please let me know and we can make arrangements for your child to have extra time with a computer at school.  I really appreciate your help and support with this!

Kirsten